It is well known that electronic components generate heat as a result of the electronic functions that the electronic components are designed to accomplish. As the generated heat increases above respective critical temperatures, failures can occur in the operation of these electronic components and, therefore, the excess heat must be dissipated to insure continued operation of these electronic components.
In the past, heat has been dissipated by a respective heat sink attached directly to each electronic component. Typically, a heat sink is made of a substance optimal for conducting heat and maintaining the temperature of the electronic component at a safe level by dissipating the heat generated by the component into an ambient environment such as air.
Generally, the respective heat sink that can provide the required heat dissipation at the lowest cost is used for each electronic component. As heat sinks have become a common means of maintaining safe operating temperatures in electronic components, different configurations of heat sinks have been developed that have different costs and heat-dissipation capabilities. In essence, by increasing the surface region exposed to the ambient environment, a heat sink can dissipate heat at a faster rate. Larger-area heat-sink configurations, however, have often proved to be more costly to manufacture because of more intricate shapes and designs. Generally speaking, as the rate of heat dissipation increases for a given heat sink, the cost of manufacturing the heat sink increases as well.
Unfortunately, as circuit boards become more densely populated with electronic components, the cost and difficulty of installing individual heat sinks for each electronic component becomes increasingly troublesome and costly.
Moreover, using a single heat sink for a large electronic component having regions with different heat-dissipation requirements can be costly because the heat sink typically includes the type of fin required by the highest heat-generating region.
According to an embodiment of the invention, a heat sink includes a base having first and second regions, a first fin of a first type disposed on the first region of the base, and a second fin of a second type disposed on the second region of the base. The first and second regions of the base may be integral with or attached to one another.
Such a heat sink can dissipate heat from multiple electronic components with the respective fin type that is most cost effective for each respective component. Using such a heat sink often reduces manufacturing time and costs as compared to using a separate heat sink for each component.
In addition, such a heat sink can dissipate heat from multiple regions of a single electronic component with the respective fin type that is most cost effective for each region.